Friday, May 25, 2012

It came out better than I expected and I just have to finish hand sewing the binding to the back (I will show the finished results when it is all finished).

I machine quilted 3 quilts in the past two weeks and so today was the day to clean and put my sewing room back in order (I have a set up that involves an old countertop cut to fit my machine for quilting large quilts).
I waited for a sale of free shipping to buy batting, but didn't enjoy having quilt tops waiting for quilting and then quilting three at once (Hamels is having another free shipping week - until May 30th for Canadian and US orders, so I will order some batting in advance for some projects I have lined up).

I cleaned my sewing machine and wanted to pass on a wonderful tip I recently read about on the internet (sorry can't remember where) - they suggested using a pipe cleaner for the hard to reach areas of the sewing machine. It works wonderfully and got into all kinds of spots I have never been able to clean.

Some one recently asked to see some close up pictures of my sewing area (click on the pictures to make them bigger), so here goes -

I have lots of old kitchen things on the wall. The collection started with a few things that we found in the first house we bought and then people started giving me things. Most of them come from my aunt (from my grandmother's house - my mother remembers using the cake tins on the left, the rolling pin was also my grandmother's). The printers drawers on the right hold thread (my degree hangs under them - it was either here or the laundry room!). I am lucky to have a big, old (heavy) drafting table as my cutting table.

This sampler (about 10" x 15") was made by my grandmother (Gracia Bergeron 1893-1976) when she was young, in boarding school (St Grégoire, Quebec), around 1910.

Incredibly tiny quilting stitches, buttonholes,

mending stitches,

and patching along with the embroidery.

This picture is of my grandmother on the left when she was a teenager, along with her sister and their mother (also about 1910).

The clothes on the wall are also from my grandmother.

The christening gown and cape are on the right.

The gown is so tiny. I don't know how old it is, but my grandmother's first child was born in 1918. The silk ribbon is all fractured on the gown.

My aunt gave me this mohair coat and hat to make teddy bears, but I couldn't cut it up.

This picture shows my grandmother holding one of my aunts wearing the coat and hat, about 1929, along with my grandfather and some of my mother's oldest siblings, plus a cousin. My mother is the youngest of 11 (9 survived to adulthood), her father died a few months before she was born.

Carrying on the Tradition

The old quilts on the right side of my blog header photo are ones made by a couple of great-grandmothers, a grandmother and an aunt, plus some of their photos and some of their quilting supplies. The quilt in the background and the ones on the left are mine.